Free Thinking

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Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

The ideas shaping our lives today - with artists and thinkers in debates and interviews.

The ideas shaping our lives today - with leading artists and thinkers in extended interview and debate.

Free Thinking: Teaching and Inspiration

Teaching and Inspiration

BBC Radio 4 - Free Thinking, Teaching and Inspiration

Novelist Julian Barnes, historian Daisy Hay and New Generation Thinker Louise Creechan.

Julian Barnes's new novel Elizabeth Finch depicts an inspiring teacher. Mary Wollstonecraft, Anna Laetitia Barbauld and Dickens are discussed by Daisy Hay and Louise Creechan.

Anna Barbauld's Lessons for Children (1778-79) set off a new conversational style in books aimed at teaching children. She was just one of the female authors championed by Joseph Johnson, who was also responsible for publishing Mary Wollstonecraft's Vindication of the Rights of Women and her first book Thoughts on the Education of Daughters (1787). Daisy Hay has written a history of the publisher and she joins New Generation Thinker Louise Creechan to chart changes in ideas about education from Rousseau to Dickens. Julian Barnes' latest novel depicts an inspirational teacher Elizabeth Finch. Lisa Mullen presents.

Elizabeth Finch by Julian Barnes is out now

Professor Daisy Hay is a New Generation Thinker based at the University of Exeter. Her latest book is called Dinner with Joseph Johnson. She has also written about Frankenstein and you can hear her discussing that in an episode of Free Thinking https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09m1dvh She has also written on Disraeli and recorded a Radio 3 essay about him https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04n5st9

Dr Louise Creechan was chosen as a 2022 New Generation Thinker. She lectures at Durham University focusing on Victorian Literature with specific interests in neurodiversity, illiteracy, education, and Disability Studies.

Lisa Mullen is a New Generation Thinker and has presented a short feature for Radio 3 about Mary Wollstonecraft called The Art of Rowing https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00061ly

Producer: Robyn Read

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